Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/260

 

ET us leave the banker driving his horses at their fullest speed, and follow Madame Danglars in her morning excursion. We have said that, at half-past twelve o'clock, Madame Danglars had ordered her horses, and had left home in the carriage. She directed her course toward the Faubourg Saint-Germain, went down the Rue de Seine, and stopped at the Passage du Pont-Neuf. She descended, and crossed the passage. She was very plainly dressed, as would be the case with a woman of taste walking in the morning. At the Rue Guénégaud she called a fiacre, telling the driver to go to the Rue de Harlay. As soon as she was seated in the coach, she drew from her pocket a very thick black veil, which she tied on to her straw bonnet. She then replaced the bonnet, and saw with pleasure, in a little pocket-mirror, that her white complexion and brilliant eyes were alone visible. The fiacre crossed the Pont-Neuf and entered the Rue de Harlay by the Place Dauphine; the driver was paid as the door opened, and stepping lightly up the stairs, Madame Danglars soon reached the Salle des Pas-Perdus.

There was a great deal doing every morning, and many businesslike persons at the Palais; business-like persons pay very little attention to women, and Madame Danglars crossed the hall without exciting any more attention than any other lady calling upon her lawyer.

There was a great press of people in Villefort's antechamber; but Madame Danglars had no occasion even to pronounce her name; the instant she appeared the doorkeeper rose, came to her, and asked her whether she was not the person with whom M. le Procureur du Roi had made an appointment, and on her affirmative answer being given, he conducted her by a private passage to Villefort's office.

The magistrate was seated in an arm-chair, writing, with his back toward the door; he heard it open, and the doorkeeper pronounce the